Positives and Negatives of DIY Renovating

Many newer homeowners getting ready to launch their first home renovation project hear the advice, “You can do that yourself.”  How sound is that advice?  Is “Do-It-Yourself” possible for everyone?  What are the advantages and disadvantages?

A simple answer to the first question would seem to be “No, only those with knowledge, skill, tools, and time” should even consider getting into DIY renovating.  The reality, however, is not so black and white.  Tools can be bought, borrowed, or rented.  Skill comes with practice.  And knowledge can be found on the Internet, through television shows like “Bright Ideas”, in books and magazines, and at DIY classes in local Hardware and Home Centers.

The variable that truly eliminates many is time.  No matter how skilled the homeowner, even smaller DIY projects require significant amounts of time.  Talk to your friends and family and you may hear tales of DIY practitioners coming home from a hard day’s work and then spending the rest of the evening, and every weekend on their beloved renovation project.  This time drain can go on for months.  Do the benefits justify this potentially massive time investment?

By far, the major advantage to DIY remodeling cited by everyone is cost saving.  Want to save a lot?  Do it yourself!  Think carefully about that for a moment and you’ll see a potential fallacy in that statement.  Suppose your average hourly earning is $30, but you could hire contracting help for an average of $20.  If the DIY project gets in the way of your own work – which it sometimes does – you conceivably could be losing money.  However, this is generally the exception.  The rule is that homeowners who know what they are doing and have the time to do it can save significant amounts of money by doing all of a project, or parts of the project by themselves.

Another major benefit frequently overlooked is the tremendous self satisfaction that comes from creating something with your own hands.  Homeowners who have work done on their homes can justifiably be proud, but those who can say to their friends “We did that ourselves” are even prouder.

There are several downsides to DIY renovation, the largest of which is time.  Almost all DIY projects will take longer to complete than a project using contractor labor.  For large projects, this time difference can be significant, measured in terms of weeks and months, not hours and days.   If you are not prepared for the ongoing construction mess that accompanies a DIY project, stay away or do only small parts of the project by yourself, leaving major components to the professionals.

Another potential negative is safety.  Even experienced contractors sustain injuries on the job and some DIY homeowners find appropriate construction safety precautions time-consuming and bothersome.  If there is some risk of injury to yourself, there can be even greater risk of injury to your home.  While some skills poorly performed by the DIY Homeowner have little impact, others can lead to serious consequences.  If you fail to prepare your newly installed wallboard for painting, you’ll end up with a poor finish.  However, if your electrical skills are insufficient, improper rewiring can result in house fires.  Finally, many projects require residential building permits and failure to comply with local codes can result in the job stoppages.   Make sure you consult local building codes before you consider DIY renovation.